Senate Democrats said Wednesday there is daylight between a pro-life provision they opposed in an anti-trafficking bill and abortion language tucked into a House deal to overhaul Medicare, signaling their objections may not torpedo long-sought reforms to how the health program pays doctors.
Do we like it? No, Sen. Charles Schumer, New York Democrat, said of the Medicare language. Is it as severe as the provision in the trafficking bill? No, so well see where we come out.
President Obama on Wednesday said that hell likely sign the bill that would resolve the annual threat of automatic Medicare cuts to physicians.
SEE ALSO: Abortion fight threatens Medicare deal as Dems balk at pro-life language
Ive got my pen ready to sign a good, bipartisan bill, which would be really exciting, Mr. Obama said while promoting the fifth anniversary of Obamacare. I love when Congress passes bipartisan bills that I can sign.
The Medicare bill would repeal an outdated budget tool that Congress overrides each year, anyway, through a so-called doc fix, even when the formula calls for a cut to doctors pay.
Lawmakers in both parties agree that the yearly overrides are silly, and the House is set to vote on its bill Thursday. The Congressional Budget Office said the cost of the fix is $200 billion, to be shared about evenly between Medicare beneficiaries and providers.
Republican Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio and Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi of California reached agreement on the bill, which has drawn the ire of some womens groups because it subjects community health centers to abortion curbs that Congress has enacted annually since 1979 the so-called the Hyde amendment.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Mrs. Pelosi has an impeccable record of standing up for the right of women to choose and make their own decisions about their health care.
We certainly put a lot of stock in the views of the minority leader on this, he said.
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Democrats may not sink House bill on doctors' pay